GB2025019A

GB2025019A - Appartus for finishing garments

Info

Publication number: GB2025019A
Application number: GB7921590A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1978-06-22
Filing date: 1979-06-21
Publication date: 1980-01-16
Also published as: JPS5736000B2; FR2429286B1; US4403425A; FR2429286A1; DE2827433B2; DE2827433A1; DE2827433C3; GB2025019B; JPS552495A

Description

1 GB 2 025 019 A 1

SPECIFICATION Apparatus for Finishing Garments

This invention relates to apparatus for finishing garments, for example for simultaneously drying and finishing washed garments, the apparatus comprising a treatment chamber in the form of a tunnel and a conveyor on which the garments, dependent from hangers transversely of the conveying direction, can be conveyed through the tunnel.

In known apparatuses of this kind such as shown in United States patent specification No. 3,257,739) the tunnel-like treatment chamber is formed with entry and exit apertures such that the garments which are dependent from hangers transversely of the direction of conveyance and which are e.g. overalls and shirts can be conveyed through the openings with the front or the back of the garment facing to the front-Le. in a transverse position. Consequently, the tunnel entry and exit openings are relatively large, with the result more particularly that considerable steam, hot air and noise emanates from the tunnel into the work room where it greatly disturbs the operators.

In another apparatus which is known from German Offenl eg u ngssch rifts 2,100,116 and 2,166,328 and which has an angled tunnel, the position of the garments relatively to the direction of conveyance alters as the garments pass through the tunnel, the garments passing through 95 the evaporation zone of the tunnel both lengthwise and transversely but through the drying zone only lengthwise. The garments are supplied lengthwise to the tunnel and leave the same lengthwise upon completion of the treatment. Consequently, the tunnel entry and exit openings are much smaller than in the known apparatuses described where the garments are supplied and removed in the transverse position.

However, a disadvantage of the second kind of apparatus is that immediately after passing through the tunnel entry opening the garments are steam processed by means of steam sprayers. Consequently, an undesirable amount of steam and noise reach the work room in which the apparatus is disposed, through the tunnel entry opening. Similar considerations arise at the exit end of the tunnel.

Consequently, the know apparatuses of the kind described have the disadvantage that a considerable amount of steam, hot air and noise reaches the work room through the tunnel entry and exit openings and is particularly disturbing for the operators, more particularly in the case of apparatuses in which the garments pass through the entry and exit openings transversely of the direction of conveyance. Another disadvantage is that the energy losses reduce efficiency. It is an object of the invention to provide an improve apparatus for finishing garments such that much less steam, hot air and noise will reach a work room, in which the apparatus is disposed, more particularly on the input side of the apparatus, than is the case with the known apparatuses discussed, so that the operators are not disturbed in their work and efficiency is improved.

According to the invention there is provided an apparatus for finishing garments, and comprising a treatment chamber in the form of a tunnel and a conveyor on which garments, dependent from hangers transversely of the conveying direction, can be conveyed through the tunnel, the tunnel being preceded at the entry end by a non- treatment chamber formed with an entry opening for garments into the non- treatment chamber and with an exit opening for garments from the nontreatment chamber into the treatment chamber, the entry and exit openings of said non-treatment chamber being at an angle to one another, and the entry opening of the non-treatment chamber being adapted for lengthwise conveyance of the garments and the exit opening being adapted for transverse conveyance thereof.

With an apparatus devised in accordance with the invention-Le. when a non-treatment chamber formed with entry and exit apertures at an angle to one another is provided at the tunnel entry end and when such apertures are devised as go specified-the garments, positioned lengthwise, can first enter a chamber which is substantially devoid of steam, then be supplied in the transverse position to the tunnel treatment chamber. The result of the non-treatment chamber and the entry opening being devised only for lengthwise transport of garments is that, where the treatment chamber has associated therewith means for treating garments conveyed through the chamber with steam or hot air, much less steam, hot air and noise reaches a work room in which the apparatus is disposed than in the case of the know apparatuses and that efficiency is improved, as compared with such known apparatuses.

In a preferred embodiment, the provision of a hot-air lock at the tunnel entry end-further reduces the loss of energy (steam and hot air) from the tunnel and therfore further improves efficiency. Also, the hot-air lock is advantageous for the steaming process.

The provision of a non-treatment chamber which is formed with entry and exit apertures at an angle to one another and which is disposed at the tunnel exit end, and the construction of such apertures, enables the operators to work just as easily at the exit end of the apparatus as at the entry end and further improves efficiency.

An embodiment of the invention is described below by way of example with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings wherein:

Figure 1 is a front view of the apparatus, and Figure 2 is a plan view of the apparatus but without the top cover plate of the casing.

The apparatus shown in the drawings comprises a treatment chamber in the form of a tunnel 11, a non-treatment chamber 14, formed with an entry opening 16 into chamber 14 from outside the apparatus, an exit opening 17 from chamber 14 into tunnel 11, and a non-treatment 2 GB 2 025 019 A 2 chamber 15 formed with an entry opening 18 from the tunnel 11 into chamber 15 and with an exit opening 19 from chamber 15 to the outside of the apparatus. It will be noted that entry opening 16 and exit opening 17 are at an angle of 70 900 with respect to one another and that entry opening 18 and exit opening 19 are also at an angle of 901 with respect to one another. Tunnel 11 has a steaming zone 12 and a drying zone 13.

A hot-air lock 20 is provided at the beginning of the steaming zone 12. Conveyors 21, 22 and 23 are adapted to convey garments 10 hanging on hangers 27 through the non-treatment chambers 14, 15 and the tunnel 11. The conveyors 21, 22 and 23 convey the garments 10 through the non treatment chambers 14, 15 and the tunnel 11 respectively in the respective directions indicated by arrows 24, 25 and 26. The conveyors can be of known kind, e.g. circle conveyors or screw conveyors.

The tunnel chamber 11 and the non-treatment chambers 14, 15 are enclosed by a easing 28 which also receives all the other known facilities required to operate the apparatus, such as fans and heat exchangers. However, these facilities are 90 not shown.

The apparatus operates as follows:

An operator (not shown) hangs the garments hanging on hangers 27 on the conveyor 21 at a place A. The garments hanging on the hangers 27 assume a flat roughly planar form, i.e. the various parts of each garment remain close to a median vertical plane determined by the respective hanger. For ease of description such a garment hanging on a hanger is referred to herein as being conveyed longitudinally when it is being conveyed 100 in a substantially horizontal direction parallel with the respective median plane defined by the hanger and is referred to as being conveyed transversely when it is being conveyed in a substantially horizontal direction having a major 105 component perpendicular to the respective median plane. In the preferred embodiment the garments are conveed in a direction substantially normal to the respective median plane when they are being conveyed transversely. The conveyor 21 110 conveys the garments 10 seriatim, longitudinally in the direction indicated by arrow 24, through entry opening 16 far enough into the non treatment chamber 14 for the garments to be hanging centrally before the conveyor 22. The garments 10 are transferred from conveyor 21 to conveyor 22 in known manner. The garments 10 are then conveyed transversely by the conveyor 22 first through the exit opening 17 of the non treatment chamber 14 and hot-air lock 20 of tunnel 11 and then through the zones 12, 13. The garments 10 are steam processed in the zone 12 by steam supplied thereto through pipes and nozzles which are not shown. The steam introduced into the zone 12 -together with the vapours forming therein is extracted from the top of the tunnel 11 and, by way of distribution system (not shown) some of the product removed is supplied to the hot-air lock 20 to form the hot- 1 air curtain thereof. The garments are dried and finished in the drying zone 13 by means of hot air which is introduced through apertures in the top and side walls of the tunnel 11 into the drying zone 12 and removed through appropriate apertures in the base thereof. The hot air entry and exit apertures are not shown. The dried and finished garments 10 go on conveyor 22 through entry opening 18 into non-treatment chamber 15 where they are transferred to conveyor 23 which conveys the finished- treated garments 10, in the direction indicated by an arrow 26, through exit opening 19 of non-treatment chamber 15 to the discharge or removal station B. Although the apparatus is shown only diagrammatically in the drawings, the latter make it apparent that the invention makes it possible to produce a very compact apparatus having the advantages of the known longitudinal and transverse conveyance of the garments 10 but free from the disadvantages. The fact that the garments 10 are conveyed lengthwise at the entry and exit and the provision of the nontreatment chambers 14, 15 with the narrow entry and exit apertures 16, 19 facing towards the work room substantially obviates any disturbance of the operators by steam, hot air and noise. The transverse conveyance of the garments 10 through the tunnel 11 ensures optimum treatment of the garments.

Claims

1. An apparatus for finishing garments, and comprising a treatment chamber in the form of a tunnel and a conveyor on which garments, dependent from hangers transversely of the conveying direction, can be conveyed through the tunnel, the tunnel being preceded at the entry end by a non-treatment chamber formed with an entry opening for garments into the non-treatment chamber and with an exit opening for garments from the non-treatment chamber into the treatment chamber, the entry and exit openings of said non-treatment chamber being at an angle to one another, and the entry opening of the nontreatment chamber being adapted for lengthwise conveyance of the garments and the exit opening being adapted for transverse conveyance thereof.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1, in which the tunnel has a hot-air lock at its entry end.

3. An apparatus according to claim 1, in which the tunnel is followed at its exit end by a further non-treatment chamber formed with an entry opening into said further non-treatment chamber from the tunnel and with an exit opening from said further non-treptment chamber, the last mentioned two openings being at an angle to one another, and the entry opening of said further non- treatment chamber being adapted for transverse conveyance of the garments and the exit opening of said further non-treatment chamber being adapted for lengthwise conveyance thereof.

4. Apparatus for finishing garments, substantially as hereinbefore described with t 3 GB 2 025 019 A 3 reference to, and as shown in, the accompanying drawings.

5. Any novel feature or combination of features described herein.

Printed for Her Majesty's Stationery Office by the Courier Press, Leamington Spa, 1980. Published by the Patent Office, 25 Southampton Buildings, London, WC2A 1 AY, from which copies may be obtained.